A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year A Spectator Book of the
Year Chinese leaders once tried to suppress memories of their
nation’s brutal experience during World War II. Now they
celebrate the “victory”—a key foundation of China’s rising
nationalism. For most of its history, the People’s Republic of
China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an
experience of victimization—and one that saw Mao Zedong and
Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China
grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana
Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years
is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting
nationalism at home. China’s Good War begins with the academics
who shepherded the once-taboo subject into wider discourse.
Encouraged by reforms under Deng Xiaoping, they researched the
Guomindang war effort, collaboration with the Japanese, and
China’s role in forming the post-1945 global order. But interest
in the war would not stay confined to scholarly journals. Today
public sites of memory—including museums, movies and television
shows, street art, popular writing, and social media—define the
war as a founding myth for an ascendant China. Wartime China
emerges as victor rather than victim. The shifting story has
nurtured a number of new views. One rehabilitates Chiang
Kai-shek’s war efforts, minimizing the bloody conflicts between
him and Mao and aiming to heal the wounds of the Cultural
Revolution. Another narrative positions Beijing as creator and
protector of the international order that emerged from the war—an
order, China argues, under threat today largely from the United
States. China’s radical reassessment of its collective memory of
the war has created a new foundation for a people destined to shape
the world.
General
Imprint: |
Harvard University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
August 2020 |
Authors: |
Rana Mitter
|
Dimensions: |
210 x 140 x 31mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
336 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-674-98426-4 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-674-98426-9 |
Barcode: |
9780674984264 |
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